Lesson Learned
by Betsy86
Summary: Yes, I was burned, but I called it a lesson learned. Rory gets burnt but an old friend helps the healing process. ONESHOT


**Okay, so Rory accepted Logan's proposal at the end of season 7, but she still got her job on the campaign trail. Logan went to California. This is about ten months after the season finale.**

**Inspired by the Alicia Keys song of the same name. I love it!  
**

**I own zippo.**

**

* * *

**

Lesson Learned

Philadelphia. Another city. Another hotel.

Rory Gilmore had her routine down. Arrive at hotel, locate room, have a shower, steal soap for Lorelai and call Logan.

The soap for her mother was in her bag, so she muted her TV screen and picked up her cell phone, hitting number two on her speed dial. Logan still didn't understand _why_ her mom was still number one, but it had always been that way.

Even when they weren't speaking and her mom didn't have her number because she lost her phone.

Rory twirled the ring on her left hand as she listened to the ringtone, the sunlight catching the diamond, sending rainbows across the wall.

_"Hello?"_

It wasn't Logan's voice. It was female.

"Who is this?" Rory's voice sounded weaker than she intended it to be.

_"I'm Amy. Who are you?"_

Rory opened her mouth to answer, but heard a voice in the background before she got out any words

_"Amy, why you on my phone?"_ That was Logan.

_"Well I didn't want my boyfriend to miss an important business call."_

Did she just say 'boyfriend'? Rory listened to the conversation, the two in California clearly unaware they could be heard.

_"Well, did your boyfriend miss an important call?"_

He definitely said 'boyfriend'.

_"I dunno. I didn't get to ask. They're still on the line, ID said 'Ace'."_

_"Fuck."_ Rory heard him swear and then scramble to pick up the phone. _"Ror-"_

She hung up the phone and cut him off.

This time definitely counted as cheating.

* * *

"Could you please have this mailed for me?"

Rory handed the small Manila envelope over to the concierge at the hotel. It contained one diamond ring. Nothing more. He didn't deserve anything more.

She turned to leave the lobby, go for a walk, clear her head but stopped dead it her tracks.

"When did it start raining?" The sun had been shining, the sky clear when she arrived an hour and half ago.

"About thirty minutes or so ago miss."

Perfect. That's all she needed. The weather to rub her face in her failed relationship and her broken heart.

She made her way to the door and ignored the concierge's calls of letting her borrow an umbrella.

She at least deserved to look as miserable as she felt.

* * *

She'd only been to Philadelphia once before. And her GPS had navigated her to her destination.

But somehow her body did the same thing. She looked up and was in equal amounts shocked as hell, and oddly relieved to be faced with Truncheon Books.

Her feet seemed to be on autopilot as she crossed the road and entered the building. It was different to how she remembered it. Desks with books piled high, dozens of used coffee mugs on most surfaces and sheets of paper, in various stages of being balled up littered the room.

Then she spotted him. She saw him before he saw her.

Her face felt feverish when her hot tears mixed with the cold rain droplets still clinging to her cheek.

She suddenly felt exposed and couldn't explain to herself, let alone him, why she was there. She turned to leave, and would have got away with it, if it weren't for the involuntary sob that escaped her lips.

"Rory?"

She felt his hand on her shoulder, and she turned to face him. Her tears obscured her vision, but she knew he had that look of concern. The one Luke had when he sensed something was off with her mom.

She felt his hand on her elbow as he guided her up a set of stairs, and into an apartment. He sat her on the couch and left the room, returned what seemed hours later, and handed her a cup of coffee.

"Drink it." He ordered her, sitting on the chair beside her.

She did as she was told, gulping down the hot drink in three mouthfuls, welcoming the burning sensation in her throat.

She sat the mug on the coffee table, and unable to meet Jess' eye, picked at the crimson polish on her fingernails.

"Ror? Is everything okay?"

She opened her mouth to answer him, but her words failed her, and she quickly closed her mouth again. She didn't know if she was okay. She didn't know how she felt. She had fallen for Logan and now she'd hit the floor.

"Rory, you're soaked through. You'll catch cold, and I'm pretty sure Lorelai will blame me. You want to take a shower? Then we can talk."

"I have a hotel." She mumbled. She was vaugely aware of the fact that she'd laugh about that line in the future, it was up there with 'I carried a watermelon', but in the here and now, it made sense. She did have a hotel. And she could shower there. She did shower there. Before, well before everything.

"Okay, but you don't have an umbrella?"

"Logan proposed and I said yes." She finally met his eye and noticed them harden the second she did.

"Okay." He nodded once.

"But, we broke up. This afternoon."

"What? Why?" His eyes softened again and she gave him a small smile.

"Let's just say it's a lesson learned."

"He cheated on you again?" She knew he'd get it. He always got it.

"Yeah. And don't said it."

"Say what?"

"I told you so, that you knew he'd do this, that you had him figured out the minute you met him. That I should have fixed it long ago." She was becoming hysterical and he moved beside her, pulling her into a hug.

"It's alright." He ran his hand down her back, trying to sooth her, "It's alright. I wasn't gonna say that. I was gonna say that he's an idiot."

"Or I am. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice-"

"You're not a fool, Rory. You loved him."

"Yeah." She nodded once and let out a loud sigh. "I guess the key word is 'loved'. In the past. So I just have to get past it, right?"

"You sure you don't want that shower?"

"Yeah, I'll take the shower."

He stood and offered her his hand, which she accepted, but dropped again once she was on her feet. She followed him down the hall and into a room.

"This isn't the bathroom." She hovered at the door.

"Well observed." He smirked, pulling open the closet door. "It's my room. You need a towel and a change of clothes." He turned and handed her a faded blue towel and a pair of sweat pants and a grey Pearl Jam t-shirt.

"Thanks." She smiled and backed out of the room. "Bathroom?"

"Third on your left." He pointed. "I'll order a pizza. You still eat everything, right?"

"Yeah." She nodded and closed the door behind her.

* * *

The water had been scalding hot, but it had only served to let her know she was still alive. Logan hadn't killed her. She could live without him.

She stood in front of the mirror. Her skin was red from the heat of the water, but beneath it, she knew her eyes were pale, and her face sallow.

She was constantly being asked if she was feeling okay, or if she'd gotten enough sleep by her fellow reporters.

Being _with_ Logan had been killing her. She needed to find herself again.

Rory Gilmore.

Not Rory Huntzberger to be.

She raked her fingers through her hair and pulled on the t-shirt Jess had given her, before leaving the bathroom.

"Pizza's here." She heard Jess call out and she joined him back on the couch.

She picked up a slice of pizza and took a small bite. She wasn't all that hungry, but a Gilmore without an appetite would only give rise to concern.

"Your phone went off a while ago. I just let it ring out."

"Was it...?"

"Yeah."

They ate in silence. Every so often, Rory's phone would ring, the theme song from 'Logan's Run', but she would ignore it and let it ring out.

"Why don't you just reject it?" He asked after the fifth call.

She shrugged and sat her half eaten pizza slice back in the box. "Then he knows I'm rejecting his calls. It rings out and he has no idea why. If I can't hear my phone, because I don't have it on me, or I'm otherwise engaged."

"Oh." The phone rang again, only this time it was his and not hers. "I have to take this." He stood and made his way to his room. "Hey Jen." She heard before he closed the door.

She poured herself another cup of coffee and sipped it quickly, finishing and setting her cup back down as Jess came back into the room.

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah. That was Jen, my girlfriend."

"And is everything okay?"

"Yeah, we had plans, but I rearranged them."

"What? No! Call her, re-rearrange them. I have to get back to the hotel anyway. I've an early start, and I need some sleep."

"You sure?"

"Positive. You've done enough Jess."

"I've done nothing."

"You did what I needed." She tells him and she gathers up her bag and coat.

"Where you staying?"

"The George."

"I'll give you a ride. It's on the way to Jen's."

"Thank you."

* * *

"Thanks again Jess."

"It's no problem, Rory."

"I know, but I didn't mean to dump this on you." And she hadn't. Fate clearly had a hand in this somewhere. She finds out about Logan's cheating in _his _city. She smiles as she remembers his words from the open house. "But, it is what it is, right?"

"Right." He smiles at her.

"Jess? What is it? What are we?"

"Friends?" He shrugs. "Family? I mean your mom is marrying my uncle. That makes us some sort of pseudo family, right?"

"I guess. You coming to the wedding?"

He nodded in the affirmative and she grinned.

"You should bring Jen. I really want to meet her."

"That was my plan."

"Good. Maybe I'll bring Obama. I swear I caught him checking me out at the end of his last speech."

"I'm sure he was." He laughed, and she joined him.

"I guess I should go." She opened her door and stepped onto the pavement. "Thanks again Jess."

"I didn't-"

"I meant for the clothes."

"Your welcome. And Ror, keep in touch?"

"You bet." She gave him once last smile before shutting the door. He drove off, giving her a blast of his horn and a wave out the window.

Her phone rang again and she lifted it from her pocket. She pushed her hair behind her ear and hit the reject button.

Scrolling through her contacts list, she paused when she reached Logan's number, and going through the options she placed a block on the number, and deleted it from her speed dial list.

Yes. Today certainly was a lesson learned for Rory Gilmore.

She'd been burned, but she knew, she was gonna be alright.


End file.
